Monday, June 23, 2014

Yes, it's been awhile. This spring has been for lack of better words, terrible! School has sucked up every bit of our time recently. To deal with this in a therapeutic manner I've broken off my son's battles with Dysgraphia into it's own blog http://challengesofdysgraphia.blogspot.ca/. However it's summer, school is now done and I'll enjoy our little reprieve for the next 8-10 weeks :)

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Frozen is now officially Lily's favorite movie, which means we sometimes get a break from the Annie soundtrack ;o). It is also Lily's birthday a week from today. However when I look out the window and see the latest storm outside, I can confirm that the crocuses will NOT be in bloom like they were in 2010! There is so much snow we still don't have our Christmas lights down! We even had a couple of hours off of work on Wednesday which NEVER happens (seriously downtown flooded one year so it was a moat around the office and we still went in). So to go with the snow theme...I figured I'd through a snowman into the stitching mix!

Seriously this was the forecast for Wednesday and we are expecting another 30-40 cm today!

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Took the plunge and registered for our spring stitching retreat this morning. I needed a little something to cheer me up. I'm looking forward to a little get away in April but my goodness it's making for a hectic month.

April Weekend 1: Lily's Birthday Party Saturday, real birthday and family celebration Sunday
April Weekend 2: Recuperate from DH's mid week birthday, Palm Sunday (not a bad weekend)
April Weekend 3: Easter here at the house, then travel to Grand Falls after Easter service for our mandatory appearance at the family meal hosted by one reluctant to pass the torch when it comes to holiday celebrations to our generation. GOOD GRIEF...we are getting to/in our 40's. That's a whole other rant ;)
April Weekend 4: Retreat!!! Now hopefully my retreat co pilot can get Friday of...heck I hope I can get Friday off the rate things have been going at the office.
May Weekend 1: Bryan Adams concert in Saint John. Super excited about a one night get away and seeing one of my favorite artists!! The last time we got away for fun stuff was U2 back in 2011, we're overdue!

If I factored in how little time that would be until the May long weekend I would begin to feel a little "claustrophobic". While I enjoy the things we do sign up for, it does take a bit of maneuvering to make things 'happen' and not have the house go to complete shambles. I think this may all play a significant part in me becoming beyond annoyed when we are voluntold to attend some event. Momma needs some downtime. ;)

On a brighter note, the ramp up for Alex's birthday celebrations at the beginning of June are non existent this year! Fear not, I'm not a cold mother. ;) In February he came home with the 'grad' class trip information for middle school. It is a pricey trip but with a jam packed itinerary it is something that we couldn't do as a family trip to accomplish as many sights for the same price. So we let him sign up as part of his birthday/"grad" present. I don't remember leaving junior high under nearly as extravagant terms but a trip to Ottawa and Quebec City will be an exciting adventure for him. Bonus, 4 whole nights off of teen drama ;) Win Win!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Between our schedules and the boy's allergies we could never have a dog full time. In early 2006, my parent's adopted a former 'stud' Nova Scotia Duck Toller named Jazz. He was quirky like the rest of us and that made him family. A little over a week later my grandmother passed away suddenly and while mom was still at the hospital, this poor dog that had been between my parent's and my grandmother's house , possibly not fully house broken was just sitting there so I went over to walk him. I hadn't walked a dog since the days of not pooper scooping. I grabbed 4 bags...he pooped 5 times. The fifth time in front of someone...on a train track, no way of hiding our lack of bags. We were embarrassingly bonded for life. He's been my dad's companion and 60lb lap dog, my mom's personal food vacuum, my brother's vet practice, my thanksgiving turkey guardian and my child's friend. Last night he collapsed and passed away enroute to the emergency vet.

Monday, March 24, 2014

When we moved into our house 10 years ago there was a huge bedroom in our basement that was designated as the guest room. I have always hated that room. The former owners had a love of semi gloss paints and decided to paint the room with it...in concrete grey. I set up shop in the room beside it, smaller but it had a nice little closet, I even painted it and had a nice second guest room. Fast forward to 2010. Lily arrived, her bedroom had been used as our office and needed a new home....so I ended up forfieting my beloved craft room to live in limbo between the office and guest room.

Finally last year we walked into Canadian Tire and there was a 3 door armoire on sale, dirt cheap. Waiting for an actual closet would take forever and I was tired of being 'homeless' so it hopped in the van with us and made it's way to the cave. Now like all projects in that room it got derailed. Yes it was standing, yes it held crafting goodness but it was a mess. It was hard to arrange the contents of the other closet and as usual, we had company incoming.

Fast forward yet again to the end of February, my parents were invited to their friend's cottage in Florida, our primary visitors were going to be out of the country for an entire month. So I headed to Home Depot and came home with some "Heather Plume" paint and determination....because I HATE painting. The task was even more frustrating because the walls, or at least the lower sections will be replaced and the ledge wasn't installed correctly but I could bare the grey no longer. Because of the size of the room and the contents of the armoire that needed to be emptied this was a multiphase project (hence the lack of posting). This weekend marked the final push and everything is back in place (although I need to hang some stitching). I was always inspired by my friend's craft room which I always lovingly teased her was more of a shop ;) This weekend, I took one step closer to having one as well...

Katie's Crafting Shop and Guest Services..."Hanwell Hilton"

Oh yes...the hubby has a man cold, hence the slushies i the middle of winter

Now to convince DH to actually replacing the Demi Walls (they are not thick enough to put outlets in), and to lay some laminate....and install the new light fixture. I've ordered a landscaped canvas shot of our wedding for the head board wall and DH should be installing some candle holders in the near future ;)

Monday, March 10, 2014

Unfortunately not 5 lbs off of the scale, but 5 long months since you've been gone my friend. I came across that email today and it all came rushing back as if it were both yesterday and far in the past all at once. I miss you Cathey xo Katie

Sunday, March 02, 2014

February was crazy...my poor blog is feeling a little neglected. My latest work project finally rolled out this month and while it's been a great experience, it's been a lot of extra work and last minute preparations.

I did however get some stitching done in my brief hiatus. I may just have to add to my stitching goals as Holly is now done :) Now here's hoping the Village pics up :)

The kids are off to Grand Falls for a couple of days to visit their grandparents over the March Break. As much as I love them, I'm enjoying a couple of nights off. The house stays clean for more than an hour straight. I even started painting the craft/guest room. Here's hoping for two more productive days.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Back this fall I could not find a specific picture that I wanted to use in the Letters for Junior book. I searched high and low...and my house is fairly organized. Tonight I came across a picture someone had given my husband of himself back in university all those years ago, tight jeans and puffy neon coats and all. That got me thinking that one of his coworkers actually was in the same residence as some friends of mine so I new there were some dorky pictures to pass along here.

I entered the craft room to go find these pictures and in the process I got a little sentimental and as usual I talk a little to a framed picture of Cathey that's down there. I told her that there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her...and I opened a stray pack of photos and the missing picture was sitting there right on top.

Pink party circa 2008:

I'd planned on posting my village to date tonight but I caught a case of the frogs, arghh! I needed to redo the border on square 5 and it really cooled my stitching mojo :/. I'm coordinating a new project at work which cuts into my Stitchy time and having a set back in that time was simply frustrating!

Monday, January 13, 2014

This weekend our region was literally iced in. There were people skating on the streets! I could even skate in my driveway about now. I've also been under the weather so I'm not on my normal work out schedule so I snuck more stitching in than usual. I have two items to share, and while snapping some quick pics before I iron them tomorrow, I must concede that DH's Nokia 1020 takes much better photos than my beloved iPhone 4S :/

I also had some stash arrive today from the Brooke's Books Etsy shop, there should be some pretty angels added to my tree this year :). Until then I'll be dividing my time between Santas Village and Holly.

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Here is the short list of stitching goals for 2014. The hope of course is to do far more but every time we think we have things straightened out with DS's school something inevitably pops up. I can't even begin to express how ill equipped the school system in New Brunswick is to identify and accommodate fine motor disabilities...however that's a whole other post ;)

Thursday, January 02, 2014

I've had the past two weeks off of woke but it's only been since Wednesday after no that I've gotten some me time in the craft room. Argh. We rang in the new year with my inlaws so those days were shot. My new Cricut Expression arrived NYE so I was down there as soon as they left. I have a new set up that works a little bit better when using that machine. Although I dream of the day the garage is finished and I claim our current man storage area as my own. An L Shaped desk is a must.

Now I would rather be stitching but my current perch has been occupies by my teen as he plays xbox with his father on 'his' holiday, it's so nice that they consider that I might need some me time, so Cricut and a little Downton Abbey it is! Today I finished up this little project for Lily's door. I made Alex something similar albeit with transfer stickers when scrap booking was more 'in'

Tomorrow marks my last day of vacation, I need to do a little studying for my Prince2 certification I have coming up but after that I plan on spending some time creating a stitching goals list, something I probably haven't done pre Lily!! One thing I would like to do but am having trouble locating is Brooke's Book's Stitchy Witch freebie pattern. I came across it while going over old blog posts of Cathey's, it was apparently out during my stitching slowdown. Does anyone know where I could find it??